Rail anchor



- RAH. BASE 4 R. J. M COMB 2,446,842

RAIL ANCHOR Filed June 14, 1946 u EL/5 v6 g I 1 ANCHOR /I i? j 28Patented Aug. 10, 1948 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

Rail anchors, or anti-creepers, are intended to prevent the creeping ofthe rail in the track under trafiic. As heretofore made in one piece,they engage the base of the rail with a clamping action or grip that isintended to be increased as the tendency of the rail to creep forces adepending portion of the anchor against a crosstie. (Railway Engneeringand Maintenance Cyclopedia, 1942, pp. 261-268.)

But this desirable result is not attained unless the anchor is appliedto the rail in the correct relation to the direction of creep and to atie, which is frequently not done in practice.

The principal object of this invention is to so improve such anchorsthat they will inherently function as intended when the rail creeps ortends to creep, whether applied as they are designed to be or thereverse.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. l is a plan view of a fragment of a track withone of the anchors applied to the rail;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of a fragment; and

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the forces brought into lay by theoperation of the rail.

In these drawings, It] indicates a portion of a crosstie fitted with atie plate under a rail I2, the rail and the tie plate being fastened tothe tie by spikes [3 in the familiar way.

The preferred form of the rail anchor best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 ismade from high carbon or alloy steel rolled to special or commercialsections to suit the conditions. In this instance, it is shown as madefrom a bar A" thick by h s" wide. forged or bent to the configurationbest shown in Fig. 2. This gives the anchor two hooks, generallyindicated by I 4 and I5, for receiving and clamping the opposite sidesof the rail base l6. Each of these hooks blends into a reverse bend I1,which in turn blends into a larger bend forming a bow l8, which servesas a lever by which the creeping force is transferred from the railanchor to an adjacent crosstie, and thence to the ballast.

In this illustration, an A. R. E. A. 112-pound rail is shown, and by thestandard the outer corners of the base, at l9, are rounded on a radiusof 1 's; and, in order to provide a good biting or clamping actionbetween the upper jaws 2D and 2| of the hooks l4 and IS. the adjacentsurface of each jaw is substantially tangent to that curved corner at oradjacent to its juncture with the 2 plane upper surface 9 of the railbase. whereby the corners of the jaws form teeth which readily bite intoand firmly engage the corresponding rounded corners of the rail base.

The curved portions 22 and 23 on the opposite jaws 24 and 25 form asomewhat similar engaging teeth arrangement to which the lower surface26 of the rail base is tangent,

The lever arm l8, forming the intermediate and depending portion of therail anchor, is provided with oppositely disposed and centrally locatedprojections or feet 28 for contact with the adjacent side of tie I!)when the rail anchor is in use. These may be produced in a variety ofwaysfor example, the /8 stock may be forged or swaged to in that area toproduce the projections and also to reduce the thickness of the bar,thereby to give it better yield during the operation of applying theanchor to the rail. Another expedient would be to groove theintermediate portion at the bottom, as indicated at 29 (Fig. 3) tothereby force the metal laterally in that figure and form the feet 28.This also has the advantage of improving the spring action in applyingthe anchor to the rail. However the feet are formed, it is importantthat they be centered with respect to the grip of the jaws on the railbase to the end that there will be no twisting or slewing that wouldtend to release the gripping or binding action of the jaws. As hereillustrated, the feet 28 are made to extend in opposite directions alongthe area bounded by the reference numerals 3B in Fig. 2.

Turning now to Fig. 3 and assuming that the creep is in the direction tothe left, as indicated by the arrow on the rail l2, it will be seen thatany creep or tendency to creep will bring the left foot 28 against theside of the adjacent tie Ill, the reaction from which will cause thejaws of the hooks l4 and I5 to securely grip the side portions of therail base and hold it against any creep, or at least make a resistanceto any creep to the extent that the tie is held by the ballast.

In Fig. 4, the forces are illustrated in diagram in which the arrow '32indicates the pressure of the foot 28 against the tie It. The arrow 33indicates the upwardly and backwardly directed force of the lower jawsagainst the bottom of the rail base at 22 and 23, and 34 indicates theforce of the upper jaws of the hooks M and I5 against the outer roundedcorners of the rail base at I9.

The dotted arrow 35 in Fig. 4 indicates a reverse arrangement in whichthe creep is to the right in that figure, and the foot 28 at the rightis resting against a tie ID at the right. The reaction through theanchor in such an instance would be the reverse of that shown in solidlines, but the binding or gripping action on the rail would be the same.

It should thus be evident that no matter how thoughtlessly or carelesslyrail anchors embodying this invention are applied to the rail, they willfunction for the intended purpose if they are adjacent to a tie in thedirection of the creep. This represents an important improvement overall rail anchors heretofore available, and the important feature of theimprovement is it comprises the projections or feet 28 oppositelydirected and. centrally located so that there is unavoidably a propercontact between the lower end of the lever arm 18 and the tie to effectthe bind- V ing or gripping action of the hooks or other devices in therail anchor with the rail base.

This improvement is not limited to the particular froms of hooks andjaws here disclosed, but is applicable to many forms of rail anchorheretofore and now available. The hooks and jaws here illustrated werechosen because they are the preferred form. But that choice was notintended to impose a limitation on the claim.

The jaw 2| has an upwardly inclined terml nal portion 49 for cooperationwith the special tool as the anchors are being applied to the rail, andthe jaw I 5 has a differently directed terminal M for cooperation withthe tool as the anchors are removed from the rail. The shape anddirection of the terminals 40 and 4| are suitable to the particularform. of hooks designed for use with 112-pound A. R. E. A. rail.Variations in those will be made to suit other conditions.

From'Fig. 3, it will appear clearly that the presence of projections orfeet 28 insures that the lever arm will clear the tie plate, even thoughit should overhang the side of the tie. This is an important advantagebecause, if the lever should come against the tie plate, as frequently 4happens with prior rail anchors, the leverage is so shiort as to give nosubstantial anchorage to the ra l.

I claim:

A rail anchor substantially symmetrical along its longitudinal centerline and havin spaced rail base jaws for gripping the rail base at eachside, a depending lever portion connecting said jaws for forcing thelatter into gripping engagement with the rail base, said jaws and saidlever portion being formed from stock of substantially uniform crosssection, the central part of said lever portion below said 'rail basebeing deformed along the top and bottom thereof to provide smoothlycurved projections extending laterally in opposite directions beyond theside walls of .said anchor whereby one of said projections may contactthe side of a tie upon creeping of the rail and further providing upperand lower grooves thereby reducing the effective cross section of saidcentral part in the vertical plane adj acent said projections to improvethe spring action.

RICHARD J. McCOMIB.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,243,688 Belknap Oct. 23, 19171,807,084 Danner June 17, 1919 1,667,407 Woodings Apr. 24, 19281,765,092 Norwood June 17, 1930 2,161,925 Johnson June 13, 19392,268,327 Thomann Dec. 30, 1941 2,413,470 Skowron et a1 Dec. 31, 1946FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 437,689 Great Britain Nov. 4, 1935457,866 Great Britain Mar. 2, 1935

